The Saccharomyces cerevisiae DPP1-encoded diacylglycerol pyrophosphate phosphatase catalyzes the dephosphorylation of diacylglycerol pyrophosphate to form phosphatidate and Pi. The enzyme also dephosphorylates phosphatidate to form diacylglycerol and Pi. Because diacylglycerol pyrophosphate, phosphatidate, and diacylglycerol have roles as lipid signal molecules in higher eukaryotic cells, it is...

In most Gram-positive bacteria, serine-46-phosphorylated HPr (P-Ser-HPr) controls the expression of numerous catabolic genes ( approximately 10% of their genome) by acting as catabolite corepressor. HPr kinase/phosphorylase (HprK/P), the bifunctional sensor enzyme for catabolite repression, phosphorylates HPr, a phosphocarrier protein of the sugar-transporting phosphoenolpyruvate/glycose phosph...

In 1986, Huber and Akazawa opened a wholly new understanding of pyrophosphate cycling as a plant adaptation for sugar use under widely different metabolic conditions. This pyrophosphate cycling, when linked to sugar metabolism, facilitates previously unrecognized adaptations in plant glycolysis. Among these are distinctive, highly efficient energetics, locally minimal use of ATP, and a capacity...

UPPS (undecaprenyl pyrophosphate synthase) catalyses consecutive condensation reactions of FPP (farnesyl pyrophosphate) with eight isopentenyl pyrophosphates to generate C55 UPP, which serves as a lipid carrier for bacterial peptidoglycan biosynthesis. We reported the co-crystal structure of Escherichia coli UPPS in complex with FPP. Its phosphate head-group is bound to positively charged argin...

Stereospecifically labeled mevalonic acid was incorporated into the carotenoids of Rhodotorula. The randomized results are discussed in relation to mechanisms proposed for the conversion of isopentenyl pyrophosphate to dimethylallyl pyrophosphate and the prenol transferase enzyme system to Rhondotorula rubra.

The inhibition by bacitracin of the enzymatic dephosphorylation of C(55)-isoprenyl pyrophosphate is abolished by the addition of chelating agents. If, however, the chelating agent is added after a preincubation of bacitracin with a divalent cation and the lipid substrate, then its addition has little effect, indicating that bacitracin, metal ion, and C(55)-isoprenyl pyrophosphate form a complex...

Thiamin pyrophosphate is an essential cofactor that is synthesized de novo by Salmonella typhimurium. In bacteria, the end product of the de novo biosynthetic pathway is thiamin monophosphate, which is then phosphorylated by thiamin-monophosphate kinase (EC 2.7.4.16) to form thiamin pyrophosphate. We have isolated and characterized the thiL gene of S. typhimurium and showed that thiL is a 978-b...

In pyrophosphate-dependent glycolysis, the ATP/ADP-dependent enzymes phosphofructokinase (PFK) and pyruvate kinase are replaced by the pyrophosphate-dependent PFK and pyruvate phosphate dikinase (PPDK), respectively. This variant of glycolysis is widespread among bacteria, but it also occurs in a few parasitic anaerobic eukaryotes such as Giardia and Entamoeba spp. We sequenced two genes for PP...

Ank is a multipass transmembrane protein that regulates the cellular transport of inorganic pyrophosphate. In the progressive ankylosis (ank) mouse, a premature termination mutation at glutamic acid 440 results in a phenotype characterized by inappropriate deposition of basic calcium phosphate crystals in skeletal tissues. Mutations in the amino terminus of ANKH, the human homolog of Ank, resul...

The conversion of geranyl pyrophosphate to (+)-alpha-pinene and to (-)-beta-pinene is considered to proceed by the initial isomerization of the substrate to (-)-(3R)- and to (+)-(3S)-linalyl pyrophosphate, respectively, and the subsequent cyclization of the anti, endo-conformer of these bound intermediates by mirror-image sequences which should result in the net retention of configuration at C1...